


Flame

by Ryx5



Series: Flee, Hunter [2]
Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Crimson doubles, Depression, Destiny, Destiny 2, Drinking Problem, F/F, Flashbacks, Fluff, Gen, Homosexuality, Loss of loved one, Mild Smut, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Harm, Sparrow racing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-01-27 02:31:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12571768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryx5/pseuds/Ryx5
Summary: READ CHAPTER 1, SPLICED, IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY-------------------------------------------------------------------------------After the losing Sergio to the SIVA crisis, Lushia faces the aftermath. As the world seems like only darkness, she realizes that she won't be able to face it alone.This takes place after RoI around the time of the Dawning. Pre-Red Legion.





	1. Chapter 1

A week had seemed like an eternity. The world was gray. The air of the dorm was heavy and dead, and it seemed to dry up even more with each minute. Nothing was enjoyable. The thirst for battle never appeared, nor did the happiness when Lushia saw the city below. Everything in the world was the same, but to her, everything was gone.

She had done nothing for that week. She felt no motivation, and every time she'd try to get up she'd lay back down. The days would still pass no matter how much time she wasted. She tried to sleep, but every time she rested her optics, memories of the chamber flooded her mind. Sometimes she'd wake up facing the empty space next to her, feeling the coldness of the sheets. Dreams would come, too, and she'd see a titan's silhouette by the bed. She'd curse herself for opening her eyes and making it disappear. She would confuse herself, creating alternate realities in her head. The truth was too hard to swallow so she would get lost in her own lies.

She hadn't talked to anyone, not even her ghost. The little spark would obey her guardian, no matter how insane the decisions were. She was there to protect her. Lushia wouldn't have to do any talking; her ghost could still read her mental state and everything going on in her body. After the panic attack on the mountain she kept a close watch on her.

"Guardian?" The ghost floated through the room to Lushia, who lay on the floor by the large window. She hovered down on front of her face. "Hey," she cooed. "Lord Shaxx has changed the match types for this week!" The blue eye blinked. "Mayhem Clash?" Lushia's violet eyes looked down and she sighed. The ghost's efforts to cheer her up were failing. 

She continued. "Oh, oh! Cayde is doing a Cosmodrome scavenger hunt. Whoever brings back the most glimmer gets some new armor. It's probably modified in some way or another, but..." The ghost noticed her guardian looking past her. She hovered and turned. She was staring at the Traveler. Lushia looked completely worn out with longing eyes going to the Light. 

"Guardian..." The ghost watched as she tried to push herself up and sit. Lushia's arms wobbled and she almost fell back down. Her ghost opened up and sent a blue ray of Light onto her guardian. Lushia got back up and began to crawl to the sliding glass door. The ghost watched cautiously like a mother witnessing her child's first steps. 

Using the wall for support, Lushia managed to stand without collapsing. Her head buzzed and a flash of pain came to her chest. She pushed the handle and the door slid open. 

Morning air. Fresh, crisp, cool air from the world. Lushia let it blanket her and she walked out to the railed balcony, her ghost following. The sun was golden. It's rays poured through the clouds onto the Tower and the City. It was the beginning of winter and the Tower was lightly dusted with white. Lushia laid her eyes on the Traveler sitting in the center of it all. 

"Guardian?" Her ghost appeared. The exo stared out to the orb. She felt an unusual feeling. The same kind she got when Sergio was with her. Comfort. Warmth. Familiarity. Perhaps it was the Light. Perhaps she was going insane. 

She collapsed down into a corner of the railing. The wind blew against her. She focused on that feeling again. One thing came to mind when she thought of Sergio. Solitude. Sergio was gone. She didn't even have much of him left. Nothing physical to keep him alive. Not his ghost, not his Titan mark. Only memory and feelings. 

Her ghost hovered down to her. Lushia looked at her and took her prismatic body in her hands.

Sadness. 

She held her against her chest. She let out sob-like sounds with no tears. Her ghost whispered words of comfort to her as she cried.

Alone.

Lushia and her ghost were practically one. A guardian to her ghost like a bullet to its pistol. She was her ghost and her ghost was her. Her grip loosened in fear that she would crush the Little Light. 

Nothing.

The exo's sobs died down. She was tired. Tired of being sad, tired of doing nothing. Her attitude like an old, bloody bandage badly in need of a change. She wanted that change, but the longing to see her titan again gnawed at her and chained her down. She wanted that change, but it hurt to even stand up. She wanted that change, but she couldnt accept that Sergio was never coming back.

Lushia's fingers came to her forehead. They ran over the crusted glove print of blood. She had tried to keep it there, because no matter how dirty it was, it was one of the only part if him that was still alive. What scared her is that it would flake away eventually. 

She leaned back against the railing and her ghost stayed nestled in in her neck. She let the wind blow against her as the sun shined through the clouds onto her and the city below. She wrapped her hands around her shoulders and squeezed tight, pretending to feel Sergio's touch, to know he was there with her when he wasn't. Her ghost nudged against her guardian and her guardian held her close.

"I'm here, Lushia," she whispered, calling her by name. "For you. I always will be."


	2. Chapter 2

"Stand still, you two," Sergio's ghost groaned. The green orb turned to the red one and rolled its eye. Why was it so difficult to get a simple task done with these guardians?

"Okay, okay," Sergio said between kisses. Lushia tried to wave him off, but he would pull her back in. He stopped abruptly and pulled a straight face. The ghosts focused their lenses, but Lushia didn't keep the mood and burst out laughing at the titan's expression.

The red ghost spun. "The lighting is going to change," she whined. "The Fallen are going to find us any minute, too."

"Relax," Lushia said as Sergio placed little kisses along her jaw plate. She heard the buzz of a distant sparrow and gathered herself and calmed Sergio. Turning forward, she faced the ghosts glaring at her.

"Ready?" Sergio's ghost sounded impatient.

Sergio held Lushia by her hip and she swung her harm around his neck. She arranged her mouth plates to create a smile and leaned close to her titan. The ghosts hovered around to get a good angle. The water of the Cosmodrome sparkled with sunlight and the trees blew softly in the wind. Clouds drifted along the horizon. Somehow the wasteland looked beautiful.

Lushia and Sergio smiled as they heard a shutter click. The picture was finally taken and saved forever.

-

Lushia grimaced at the projection. Seeing her own happiness from the past irritated her. She was so foolish then. So drunk on love and emotion, never dreaming of being sober. Her eyes drifted to Sergio's face. His smile didn't warm her core like it used to. It haunted her. Memories of the chamber flashed through her mind. The way he suffered as they tried to escape, the sound of his pained screams, the blood coating his mouth as he fell and the doors closed.

Lushia looked at herself in the projection. The last time she was that happy Sergio was still with her and they weren't involved in Saladin's stupid mission. They walked together in the Tower, throwing snow at each other. She was careless. She didn't know that in 48 hours he would die for the last time.

Her ghost stopped projecting the photo, feeling Lushia's disturbance.

"I'm sorry," she said. Lushia shook her head. She stood slowly and walked to the washroom, using the walls for support. Her head buzzed and felt heavy. Pushing the door and flicking the light switch, she leaned over the sink and beheld her reflection. She looked horrible.

Her posture was weak and her armor looked dull. The blood on her face was more flaked off than she thought. Her silver face remained the same as always, but her purple optics were dim. She leaned in and ran a finger down the glass.

Something rapped against her door. _What the hell?_ She thought. Her ghost sailed in.

"Someone's here," she said. Another sound. Lushia crept out of the bathroom as silently as she could. She looked through the peephole of her door. Standing outside was Giana.


	3. Chapter 3

Lushia wasn't sure if the day had gotten better or worse. She cracked the door open enough so that she could come face to face with the hunter.   
  
"Oh good, you're here," Giana sighed.   
  
"How did you find me?" Lushia croaked, her vocals being used for the first time in a while.  
  
"Checked the roster for Saladin's fireteam," Giana said. "A shit ton of info comes with it. I messed with it to find you."  
  
"So you've been stalking me?" Lushia kept the door cracked.   
  
"Hey, hey, I just wanted to check on you." Giana paused. "Can I come in?"  
  
Lushia looked behind her into her dorm. The covers of the pullout bed were in a heap, but the room was still decent. Her white shorts and tank top were probably in there somewhere. She looked at the floor. As much as she panicked from the sudden visit, she enjoyed hearing someone else's voice.  
  
She opened the door wide enough to let Giana in.   
  
"Why are you here?" Lushia asked as she closed the door.   
  
"Like I said before, I just wanted to see how you were doing." Giana kept her eyes on Lushia.   
  
"You don't need to do that for me," Lushia retorted. "I'm fine."  
  
"For God's sake, Lushia, you can't just walk off something as traumatic as what happened last week." She sighed and rubbed her eye. Lushia looked away. "Okay, look," Giana started again. "I didn't come here just to get pissed or to yell at you. And I'm not saying you need me. Hell, we don't even know each other that well. It's just... people don't get over these things easily. This stuff stays with you."   
  
She stepped closer to Lushia and put a hand on her shoulder. Lushia's eyes glided up to meet green ones. "I know, Lushia. I know what it's like to lose people. I came here because I don't want to know what it's like to lose another person."  
  
Lushia felt a tug. A longing. She gazed at the hunter in front of her and felt herself come closer. Something in her snapped and she let herself fall apart. Giana wrapped her arms around her and held her as she sobbed.   
  
"I'm sorry...I'm sorry." Lushia chanted it over and over until the phrase didn't seem like English anymore. Giana let her melt as she hushed her.   
  
"Shh...It's okay, it's okay. I'm here. I'm here." Giana started to sway gently and Lushia started to quiet down. She knew how calm her as she used to have to do the same for herself.  _Just breathe,_ she'd tell herself. She found out that cradling herself or even rocking back and forth would help, so she did the same for Lushia.  
  
Minutes passed before the exo stopped. She was able to let out everything bottled up inside with someone present. Sometimes her ghost just wasn't enough.   
  
"How long have you stayed in here?" Giana asked, wiping her eyes slightly.   
  
"The mountain was the last time I was out. I haven't found the will to go somewhere." Lushia's voice still shook slightly.   
  
Giana thought for a moment. She turned to the exo and smiled. "Why don't we change that?"  
  
"You mean...?"  
  
"Yep. Believe me, getting out helps. Besides, there are a few places you might like." Giana was getting jumpy. "That- that is if you're up for going someplace."  
  
Lushia's ghost appeared and she looked to her guardian. "Well?" She said.   
  
Lushia would be leaving the dorm. The only place that Sergio was still alive. Her prison.  She thought about the blood on her forehead and how it was almost gone. No matter what she did, things would be destined to come to an end. 

"All right," Lushia said, nodding. "You lead the way." Giana grinned and flicked her bangs out of her face, a movement that Lushia had almost missed seeing. As the hunter opened the door and they stepped out, Lushia realized something. The day had gotten better. Things would get better one step at a time.   
  
  
 


	4. Chapter 4

The city was fairly busy in the afternoon. Merchants were waving customers over to their stands, while children ran through the streets carelessly. The snow was piling in and the youth of the city knew exactly what to do with it. Everyone was going about with their lives, whether it be the newest born child or the widest elder. 

Lushia walked alongside Giana through the streets of the busy city, trying to get used to the feeling of moving around so many people. Hunters were supposed to be good at this sort of thing, but she felt so awkward trying to keep a straight walking pattern amongst the crowds.

"You eat still?" The exo observed Giana pulling them over to a stand with steaming food items.

"Yep," Giana said after telling the clerk what she wanted. "Tastes good, smells good...I don't think I really  _need_  food anymore to function, but it's still fun." She gave the clerk a reassuring look after that sentence. Lushia thought back to the first time she met Giana and how she had that package of what she guessed was food. Before all of this madness. Before...

"One for you, Guardian?" The clerk was looking at her with raised eyebrows. Lushia blinked. 

"Uh, n-no, thank you." She gave him a nod and turned away with Giana. 

"You can't eat, can you?" Giana asked with a partially full mouth. Lushia said no. "Shame," Giana said. "I would have bought you something." They walked a few steps before Giana looked to Lushia. "Is this all right? For you, I mean."

"Yes," Lushia said.

"I didn't know the streets would be so crowded today." She took another bite of her food and finished it off. Lushia glanced at a flyer attached to a column of a building. The only word she could make out was "Dawning." Giana must have seen as well and guided them to the column.

"The Dawning," Giana read. Her emerald eyes moved along the paper. "Winter event? That's new." She reached to the post and ripped the paper off of it's staples. Lushia looked at her and back at the bare column. The flyer dissolved with blue light. "No one saw that." Giana said.

Just then, the hum of sparrows sounded behind them. The hunters looked over to see three guardians pulling into open space in the street. Their sparrows were brightly colored with external designs that neither had seen before. Their tail lights glowed neon and rays of color sailed behind them. People had parted and began clapping and cheering. 

Lushia took a closer look at the guardians as they joined the crowd, noticing their armor. They wore tight, compact armor pieces made specifically for optimizing sparrow performance. One of the larger guardians, who Lushia guessed was a titan, pulled off his new helmet and shook out his blue hair, earning cheers and calls of recognition from the crowd. The other two, and exo and a human, did the same and showed off their gear and sparrows. Other guardians had gathered and gawked at the sight of the loot. Some even whistled at the female warlock, who winked and blew kisses in response. 

"Who brought in the models?" Giana said.

The guardians' ghosts appeared and projected a logo for sparrow racing. Lushia felt a small spark of interest in her core as she looking at the neon projections, the sparrows, and the armor. 

Giana leaned close to Lushia. "I have never seen these people in my life," she whispered, despite the noise around them. 

Lushia looked closely at the armor and noticed an EV logo. "Eververse advertisers." 

Giana squinted. "Damn, you can see that?" she said. "You must be a good sniper." A smile danced across her lips. "Speaking of which...we should go into the Crucible sometime! You can show me your skills."

"Maybe," Lushia said.

"When you feel like it, of course," Giana added. As if to top off the excitement in the streets, it began to snow. Kids looked up and started dancing with themselves and the snowflakes as the adults even started smiling. Lushia saw the Eververse titan lift a five year old onto his sparrow and let them hold his helmet. It must have been a dream come true for the child, being on a guardian sparrow while it was snowing.

The exo held out her hand out of habit and collected a few flakes. She looked up at the white sky and the snow. The to the Traveler. The orb looked like it was smiling down on The Last City, presenting the snow as a gift. But Lushia saw more in it and the snow. It was too much. She backed away from the crowd and ran past other people to an alley way. There was no one in the path. Lushia dropped against one of the walls near a pipe, not caring about the water on the ground. She started shaking.  _You can't do this again,_ she thought. Being out was overwhelming. She was out of place. Perhaps she was better off locked up alone in the dorm.

"Lushia!" Giana rushed over. 

"Get away from me!" Lushia scrambled away, but Giana was faster and grabbed her arms, trying to hold them against the exo's body. She felt her shaking and saw her purple eyes darting everywhere as noises escaped her throat.  

"Listen to me," Giana said sharply. "Calm. Down. Just focus on me." Lushia's shaking decreased and her optics found Giana's emerald eyes. "There you go," Giana said. She took one of Lushia's hands and held it to her face. The exo regained awareness and dropped her head on one of her knees. 

"We should get back up to the Tower." Lushia's ghost had appeared. The red shell looked purple in the blue winter light. 

"That's what I was thinking," Giana said. She saw Lushia nod subtly. 

The Awoken's ghost materialized. "We're out of transportation range. You'll have to do some walking."

"What the hell, Zivya?" Giana creased her brow. "Since when have we ever been out of transportation range?" The ghost angled herself to create a scowl. 

"We're pretty far away from the Tower,  _actually,_ " she said. Giana shook her head and turned back to Lushia, who was attempting to stand. 

"Hey, hey, hey, easy, easy." Her words faded when Lushia managed to get up as if nothing had happened. That attitude only made Giana worry more. "Want to start heading back?" 

"Yes," Lushia muttered. When Giana reached for one of her arms she reclined, but understood and let her sling it over her neck. Giana's hand came to support her by the waist and they began to walk out of the alley way, away from the crowds. 

Lushia knew this felt familiar. She had carried Sergio out of the chamber this way. He was heavy. She was too slow. She had failed him.

A hand came to hers and she realized she was shaking. She looked to Giana who's eyes were forward as they made their way out of the alley. 

-

Lushia sat quietly on the edge of her bed. It was embarrassing, having to walk in front of others, vulnerable and afraid. She chastised herself for being weak. But what she didn't want to accept was that she was feeling better than this morning. Perhaps the exposure to others did help. 

"What's that?" Lushia noticed Giana stepping into the main room, holding a cloth. 

"Just some warm water." She sat on the bed next to Lushia and took her arm, slipped off the glove, and started to scrub grime out of some crevices. 

"Why?" Lushia blinked. 

"We all need a cleaning every once in a while." Giana sighed. "I'm sorry. About today. I don't know what I was thinking." Lushia stayed silent. Giana looked up to her face and her brow furrowed slightly. She reached up to Lushia's forehead. Where the blood was.

"No." Lushia caught her wrist lightly. 

"S-sorry." The exo shook her head and the silence grew between them.

"May I ask you something?" Lushia's violet eyes flicked up.

"Anything," Giana said, gingerly cleaning between the exo's fingers. 

"What happened between you and Saul?"

Giana's face darkened in the already-dim room. Her emerald eyes blinked before she nodded slowly. 

"We...how do you put it...? We weren't  _together._ He always wished we were." Giana has stopped working with the cloth. "I guess we were friends for a few months. I could tell he wanted something from me, so I ran away from it; cut off our bond. But he wouldn't let go. I hate to admit it, but I was scared. Of what he might do." A smile danced on her face. "I was pretty surprised when you broke his nose, though."

Lushia revisited the memory. The feeling of the punch, the instant her knuckles collided with his weak face. She liked that feeling. A familiar feeling squirmed in her chest, and for the first time in a while, she chuckled. 

"Weren't hunters supposed to stick with knives?" Giana said through her own laugh. 

"That's anther thing about us," Lushia said, "we tend to break the rules." 

"There we go!" Giana exclaimed before giggling. She bumped the exo's shoulder and almost dropped the lukewarm washcloth. 

"What you said earlier," Lushia started when Giana wiped the cloth against one of her facial plates, "about the Crucible. I'm up to it."

Giana was taken back. "You are? I mean, with everything that's happened, you'd be up to that?" Lushia nodded. She had started to feel like herself again. That was a good thing, right? It must mean that she was recovering. But did recovering mean forgetting Sergio? 

"Tomorrow," she began, "Mayhem Clash." With that, Giana let out a nasal laugh. Lushia did the same. The moment felt too perfect. But Giana's laughter was soon cut off. 

"Oh my God." 

"What's wrong?" Lushia felt a sharp tug under her upper facial plate and heard a small snap. She practically mirrored Giana with surprise. 

In the Awoken's fingers was a vine with finger-like cords reaching up. The vine was a shade of red they both hoped they would never have to see again. 


End file.
